Consumer confidence rises slightly in May

The consumer confidence index inched up 0.1 percent monthly to 80.5 percent in May, after rising 1.4 percent in April, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Any figure above the 100-mark indicates optimism among consumers.

The gauge of households' current financial situation, which plunged 2.3 percent in the previous month, advanced 0.4 percent in May, said the statistics authority.

The sub-index measuring households' expectations regarding their financial situations retreated from 82.9 in April, when it surged 5 percent month-on-month, to 82.8 in May.

Consumers' expectations regarding the general economic situation over the next 12 months continued to improve with the related sub-index inching up 0.2 percent after increasing 4.4 percent in April. But the index of the current financial situation of households declined by 1 percent.

Consumers, on the other hand, appeared to be more optimistic about the job market in the next 12 months in May compared with April, TÜİK's survey also showed. However, their expectations regarding inflation in the same period did not improve but worsened.

Consumer spending was one of the main drivers of the economic growth in the final quarter of last year and in the whole of 2023.

Final consumption of households accounted for 59.1 percent of GDP last year, when the Turkish economy grew by 4.5 percent.

Households' final consumption increased by 12.8 percent in in 2023 from 2022, while the annual increase was 9.3 percent.